"This widespread cynicism certainly seems warranted. On one side you have an unhinged lunatic who promotes resentment and fear; on the other side you have a political chameleon who effortlessly changes positions when it suits her. And to top it all off, you have a bought-and-paid-for Congress that obstructs common-sense policies supported by the majority of Americans because lobbyists and big donors don’t approve"

"﻿ the “deep story” she tells about the Tea Partiers—of people who see themselves having tried to get ahead by playing by the rules only to watch the federal government favor and move in front of them those who have not—rings true with what I’ve heard during my own interviews with various Tea Party militants and Trump voters."

This fit the description of most I know here in eastern Indiana.

﻿ The Tea Party has never been a single unified organization. Rather, it’s a collection of different groups that initially shared an opposition to President Obama’s stimulus program and the Affordable Care Act and that continued to organize around the name.

I'd add President Obama's race to the list.

﻿ These voters favored universal programs like Social Security and Medicare, but they opposed “big government” programs that they believed primarily benefited minorities and the poor and were financed with their tax dollars.

Yep

﻿ For many of these Tea Partiers, “‘Democrat’ wasn’t a bad word” when they were growing up. “But it is now.”

﻿ The Tea Partiers’ deep story goes something like this: They see themselves standing in the middle of a long line going up the hill of the American dream. The line isn’t moving, or is doing so very slowly. But these people are patient and work hard to get ahead. They are willing to endure hardship, including losing their homes to polluters, because they believe that through hard work, they will eventually move forward. But as a result of the actions of the federal government, people in the back of the line—minorities, immigrants, the poor—are allowed to cut ahead of the hard-working Tea Partiers

Yep. The R's successfully convinced the middle-liners that it was the Government and "those people"'s fault while the D's failed to convince them the line was moving slow because of big business and the greed of our elite. Again, Right-wing talk radio, Fox News and the R's exploitation of racism helped swell the R's message. While the D's failed to sell their message because they are controlled by big business and the wealthy elite doing the damage.

Yet it is often our own allies, like the Brits, and our own leaders who mislead and lie us into unnecessary wars. And is not meddling in the internal affairs, including the elections, of regimes we do not like, pretty much the job description of the CIA and the National Endowment for Democracy?

History suggests it is our own War Party that bears watching.

Consider Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Who misled, deceived, and lied about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, the “fake news” that sucked us into one of our country’s greatest strategic blunders?

Who lied for years about an Iranian nuclear weapons program, which almost dragged us into a war, before all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies debunked that propaganda in 2007 and 2011?

Yet, there are those, here and abroad, who insist that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program. Their goal: war with Iran.

"Boston Consulting Group reports that it costs barely $8 an hour to use a robot for spot welding in the auto industry, compared to $25 for a worker—and the gap is only going to widen. More generally, the “job intensity” of America’s manufacturing industries—and especially its best-paying advanced ones—is only going to decline. In 1980 it took 25 jobs to generate $1 million in manufacturing output in the U.S. Today it takes five jobs."

12.05.2016

Trump has also mastered, via social media, the art of Internet logic. His tweets often read like the “Comments” section on some political blog. Make a bold statement unsupported by facts. When challenged, demand the challenger provide proof you’re wrong (often meaning to prove the negative) and then mock them if they don’t respond. Dispute sources, not facts — X can’t be true because it was reported by a media outlet that favored Clinton. Attack ad hominem, and goad others into doing the same. The enemy isn’t just CNN, it is Jeff Zeleny himself. Then stand back and disavow what happens, up to and including death threats. And, for the triple score, issue an appeal for calm with a conspiratorial wink.

Mr Trump’s little deal in Indiana is a good example. During the campaign, he threatened companies like Carrier with punitive taxes if they set up operations abroad. Bribing them to desist is as bad. It will encourage other companies to follow suit and blackmail politicians for protection money to keep operations in the US, ultimately tending to the routine politicisation of investment.

Hell, US States have been bribing companies to stay or locate in their states via tax incentives forever. It has been a race to the bottom, with companies moving out of union-friendly or high wage states to low wage areas. They don't stop moving until wages have reached a threshold just high enough to keep the people from starving (As long as they get food stamps and government paid healthcare). It has helped put the American worker in the shape their in.

12.02.2016

The D's really need to stop bitching about Jill Stein. I mean....Damn... you had a crappy product that people didn't like. What do you expect them to do.

Let's assume McDonalds brings out a new sandwich, The Hillary Burger. It just doesn't taste very good. You can stomach it but still its pretty bad. They run a giant test comparing it to the Big Mac but they carefully construct the test so that it favors the new sandwich. They use a lot of Big Mac haters, throw in a some family and friends of the people who developed the Hillary Burger, talk down the Big Mac, etc.

The Hillary burger comes out on top in the test but it's very close.

Still, they are still McDonalds. The best burger joint. They know what's right. People love their burgers and the other burger joints are selling some pretty crappy stuff right now too.

So they take the new burger to market nnd,.. it just doesn't sell very well.

It looks like it could flop.

They promote the hell out of it but still, it doesn't sell.

They talk about how crappy their competition is but it still doesn't sell.

Finally it flops. Their customers rush to the other burger joints. Their sales fall and they become a third rate burger joint.

Now, for the Jill Stein, Bernie haters out there the question is,..

What should McDonalds do?

Bitch about their how stupid and crappy their customers are for going to those other burger joints.